While many REALTORS are hesitant to call our current real estate market a “BUYERS” market, we at Those Callaways know that you deserve the truth. We are now in a Buyers Market.
What does this mean? There are now fewer buyers than sellers. Or the other way around – we now have a glut of sellers saying to elusive buyers, “Pick me, Pick me!”
First, let’s back that up with some data and then we will cover what that means to you.
In April, Redfin released National numbers that said there are 1,943,669 sellers and only 1,453,628 buyers looking to buy now.
Locally, our MLS system for Maricopa County runs a daily tally of homes for sale, and that number has been in the 26,000 to 26,900 range for several months. With just over 6,000 closed sales each month, it would take over 4 ½ months to sell what we have, and during that 4 ½ months, another 26,000 homes would come on the market.
What does this all mean? Right now is a good time to be shopping. When you find that perfect home, you will probably want to write an offer that is below asking, and then after some wailing and gnashing of teeth, your seller will likely come down to make a deal.
If you are selling, you will have to be realistic about your price, unless you don’t mind going stale and watching the days on market tick up. And then you can fire your agent for not being straight with you, hoping the next one will be.
In this market, you need to be more savvy, or at the very least, hope your agent is.
This is a market where mistakes are made on both sides. Sellers will panic and sell too low, and buyers will be timid and pay too much. I assure you; sellers will not get more than their property is worth, and buyers will not overpay because they are competing with other buyers. What other buyers? This is a desert and buyers are like water, and there just isn’t enough of them.
Am I being a Danny Downer? No, I am being realistic. And I want to tell you that in these times, there are actually two markets going on at the same time. There are the overpriced listings sitting forever and there are the right price listings selling in 30 days. The key here is being in the right group.
How do you position yourself to sell quickly? Here are a couple of suggestion; don’t go with a new agent or family member. The new agent won’t know how to tell you what you need to know, and the family agent won’t want to.
Pick someone with a record of results.
At Those Callaways, we’ve seen many markets. Over almost thirty years, we’ve seen as few as 3,000 houses on the market, to more than 60,000 for sale. We represented the banks in 2007 – 2009. That was the REO (Real Estate Owned) market when all the inventory was bank-owned. We represented sellers through the Short Sale market of 2009 – 2010, when we sold lenders on taking less that the balance owed. We recently lived through the seller’s market where every new listing attracted multiple buyers. Through it all, the key question has been, “What is the right price?”, “What is top dollar?” We’ve been answering that question over and over.
In thirty years, we’ve SOLD more than 7,000 homes. Over 7,000 times, we’ve struggled with the question – “How Much?”. It is a question we welcome and when we give you an answer, you can believe it.
Call Today. Ask How Much.
Hire Results.
– Joseph